PLUM ISLAND: A CONNECTING LANDSCAPE

Beautiful and mysterious Plum Island is an 822-acre, inspiring landscape about a mile and a half off the eastern tip of Orient Point, New York, where Long Island Sound and the Peconic Estuary mix with clean, oxygen-rich, ocean waters. It is a landscape that connects people with history, nature, and opportunities to learn the stories of America.

Ecologists and other scientists are learning and sharing the story of high biodiversity on the island, in its surrounding waters, and as part of an island chain and coastal ecosystem. Historians and archaeologists are investigating the island’s earliest human uses.

Plum Island’s transformations over the last century—from military use to a world-class animal disease laboratory—and its possible future uses intrigue people nationwide. We have come together as a region to envision Plum Island’s future: a combined nature preserve, interpretive cultural and historical site where people can learn and preserve our collective legacy.

This future—which celebrates Plum Island’s past; protects its ecological value; and unites people with equitable public access and educational opportunities—depends on long-term, public–philanthropic partnerships carrying out the people’s vision, shown on the following pages.

Windswept, surrounded by biologically rich waters, and hosting significant ecological communities, Plum Island invites us to visit, learn, and continue ecological research. A marine eelgrass meadow, a community declining in New York, could be an underwater research site.